After defeating Pakistan in a tense match, the battle-hardened Indian squad will play a spin-heavy Bangladesh in the Asia Cup on Wednesday in another potentially explosive match.
Bangladesh has only won once in the 17 head-to-head meetings between the two teams in T20 Internationals, so the statistics are much lopsided.
But because of the partisan young supporters, many of whom view India as an enemy, the relationship between the two sides has become acrimonious since the 2015 ODI World Cup when Rohit Sharma was given the benefit of doubt at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
After the Sheikh Hasina Government was overthrown, India’s diplomatic ties with Bangladesh have been rocky. In August of this year, the BCCI even rescheduled a white-ball series to 2026, if a democratically elected government is in power.
Bangladesh is no match for India on paper. Bangladesh isn’t even a force to reckon with in Twenty20 Internationals, and if all goes according to plan, Suryakumar Yadav’s team may register another thumping win. However, given the erratic nature of T20 cricket and Bangladesh’s excellent spin attack, they might surprise everyone.
But in the end, the key will be the difference in the quality of batters on both teams. One of the Indian team’s openers, Abhishek Sharma, is playing at a strike rate of almost 210, and after the most recent match against Pakistan, his partner in crime, Shubman Gill, has boosted his rate to around 158.
In contrast, the two top T20 batsmen for Bangladesh, captain Litton Das (strike rate 129) and Towhid Hridoy (strike rate 124), have only average results.
The best opportunity for Bangladesh is to force India to bat first and hope that Mustafizur Rahman can eventually strangle the run-flow in the middle overs with the help of the two spinners, leg-break bowler Rishad Hossain and off-spinner Mahedi Hasan, to win the match.
Although Bangladesh’s batting lineup lacks the strength to outrun Indian spinners, they can cause some trouble by keeping India around the 150–160 range, which is reachable for them.
Tilak Varma’s difficulties against spin this year is one small concern for India that the team’s analytics department should have taken note of.
Tilak’s strike-rate against spin in T20Is during 2024 and 2025 has been downgraded by renowned analytics website ‘CricMetric’. Tilak made 116 runs at a strike-rate of 190+ in five games in 2024 while playing 61 deliveries against slow bowlers. He had a 21.3 dot ball percentage against spinners.
However, in seven innings in 2025, Tilak has only managed to score 92 runs off 80 balls with a strike-rate of 115 and a dot-ball percentage of 38. When facing faster bowlers, the left-hander has been much more at ease and has scored runs with lofted drives.
However, he has been having trouble when the ball comes late and grips a little bit against spinners. If there is a mini-collapse, Tilak and Sanju will have their work cut out for them as they are both anticipated to bat in the middle order.
Rinku Singh is a much stronger player against spin compared to Tilak, but over the years, the Indian team management has generally prioritized continuity in the batting line-up.
Bangladesh’s five-pronged attack, featuring Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib as their frontline pacers, is solid, though not particularly exceptional.
With years of IPL expertise and a variety of slow bowling techniques, Mustafizur will undoubtedly provide some challenging issues that Indian batters may have to respond to.
Teams:
India: Surya Kumar Yadav (Captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (w/k), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (w/k), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Bangladesh: Litton Das (captain, wicketkeeper), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mohammad Saifuddin
